Official: 3 children die in Bronx fire after candle lit

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Witness: I could hear them hollering

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"I couldn't get them out," says neighbor -- "I tried"

"This account had substantial arrears," says ConEd spokesman

The brothers were ages 5, 2 and 4 months

A fire that swept through a Bronx apartment killing three young brothers was caused by a candle and occurred one day after the power company cut off electricity for unpaid bills, officials said Saturday.

A neighbor said she was in her apartment in the building on West 165th Street -- half a mile from Yankee Stadium -- when she heard the boys' mother, Tashika Turner, screaming "Fire!"

"She was yelling out the window," Cynthia Woods told CNN affiliate NY1. "She saw me and said, 'Fire!' So I ran upstairs to the apartment and I kicked the door open.

"I tried to go in and get the kids, because I could hear the kids hollering. But the fire was like real heavy, so I fell, and I couldn't get into the house to save the kids ... And I couldn't get them. I couldn't get the kids out. I heard them crying, and they were burning. I couldn't get them. I couldn't get them out. I tried."

Woods said she kicked the door so hard she fell back. When she finally forced it open, "the fire came out -- and all I could hear is them hollering. And I tried to go in, but I couldn't go in. There was so much smoke and fire. It was a big flame. The whole front, the kitchen, everything was on fire."

It took about 100 firefighters about 90 minutes to bring the two-alarm fire under control by 9:30 p.m. Friday in the six-story building, officials said.